Tired of AI Forgetting? 'Recall' Gives Claude a Long-Term Memory
Ever feel like you're having the same conversation with your AI assistant over and over again.
Background
You painstakingly explain the nuances of your project, only for the AI to hit a context limit, completely forget everything, and then prompt you to start from square one in your very next session
If that sounds painfully familiar, you’re certainly not alone.
For José Airosa, a developer who relies on large language models (LLMs) like Claude daily for complex coding tasks, this wasn't just an annoyance; it was a significant productivity drain
"It was driving me crazy," José admitted in his recent Hacker News post.
Imagine pouring hours into explaining intricate architectural decisions, specific coding standards, and past design choices to an AI partner, only to have it all vanish into the digital ether
Each new conversation meant a complete re-education, a frustrating cycle that stifled efficiency and creativity.
This isn't just a minor glitch; it's a fundamental hurdle in achieving truly collaborative AI experiences
The rise of LLMs has transformed developer workflows globally, offering unprecedented assistance, but their inherent context window limitations have remained a persistent challenge, forcing users to repeatedly explain fundamental project details
Introducing Recall: Claude's New Persistent Memory But José didn't just vent his frustrations; he built a solution
Enter Recall: an innovative Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that's poised to revolutionize how developers — and anyone using powerful AI models — interact with their digital assistants
Think of Recall as Claude's new long-term memory, a sophisticated brain extension that allows it to retain vital information not just within a single chat session, but across projects, reboots, and even different machines
This addresses a critical pain point in AI interaction by preventing context loss and finally giving models like Claude a much-needed persistent memory. How Does This Digital Memory Work Its Magic.
It's surprisingly elegant. As you chat with Claude, Recall steps in to identify and store crucial pieces of information as "memories.
These aren't just plain text snippets; they're embedded into a numerical format using OpenAI's powerful text-embedding-3-small model – essentially translating them into a language computers understand deeply and contextually. These embedded memories, along with essential metadata like timestamps and associated projects, are then safely tucked away in a Redis database, renowned for its speed and efficiency.
When Claude needs to recall something, Recall doesn't just do a simple keyword search; it employs semantic search.
This means it understands the meaning behind your current query and intelligently retrieves the most *relevant* memories, even if the exact words aren't present
Imagine asking Claude about a 'rate limiting strategy' and it pulls up memories discussing 'API quotas' and 'throttling mechanisms.
' It’s like having a highly efficient, context-aware librarian for your AI, ensuring truly intelligent, automatic retrieval of relevant information across sessions and projects
Beyond Basic Recall: Advanced Context Management What does this mean for developers. A whole lot more than just convenience.
Recall isn't just a simple memory bank; it’s a powerful context management system packed with features designed for real-world development workflows, paving the way for more sophisticated and collaborative human-AI interactions: Global Memories: Imagine sharing a project's fundamental principles, a team's preferred design patterns, or even organizational-wide coding conventions across all your AI interactions
Global memories make this possible, ensuring consistency and drastically reducing redundant explanations, especially vital for larger teams working on interconnected projects
Relationships & Knowledge Graphs: This goes beyond simple storage
Recall allows you to link related memories, essentially building intricate knowledge graphs.
Think of documenting how a specific API rate limit directly influences a UI component's caching strategy, or how a database schema choice impacts backend service architecture
Claude can now understand and leverage these complex interdependencies, offering more holistic and informed advice. Versioning: Projects evolve, and so do decisions.
No more guesswork about why a certain standard was adopted or altered, or how a design choice evolved over iterations
This feature is invaluable for complex, long-running projects. Templates: For common tasks or project setups, Recall enables reusable patterns.
Define a template for a new microservice, for instance, outlining its standard folder structure, essential dependencies, and testing methodologies.
Workspace Isolation: Worried about your e-commerce project's memories cluttering your new mobile app development.
Recall offers workspace isolation, ensuring that Project A's context doesn't spill over into Project B, maintaining clarity, focus, and privacy across different endeavors
Lean, Mean, and Powerful: Technical Underpinnings Built with TypeScript and leveraging the MCP SDK, Recall is a lean machine.
It relies on Redis for its high-performance storage needs and OpenAI's embeddings for its semantic capabilities
With a tiny ~189KB bundle, it runs smoothly right on your local machine, ensuring data privacy and minimal overhead. Don't let its size fool you, though; it’s a powerhouse.
José reports that it currently exposes 27 tools to Claude, handles 10 distinct context types (from directives to design patterns), and delivers sub-second semantic search results even across 10,000+ memories
It’s compatible with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and any other MCP client, making it incredibly versatile
Let's make this concrete. José shared a perfect example: "I'm building an e-commerce platform.
I told Claude once: 'We use Tailwind, prefer composition API, API rate limit is 1000/min. ' Now every conversation, Claude remembers and applies these preferences automatically.
" This isn't just a helpful reminder; it's Claude actively understanding and adhering to your established constraints and preferences without you having to re-type them
Think of the hours saved, the consistency gained, and the sheer joy of an AI assistant that truly gets your project
This significantly enhances developer productivity and consistency by allowing AI to remember project-specific details, coding standards, and past decisions
A Game-Changer for Southeast Asia's Vibrant Tech Scene For developers across Southeast Asia, where the tech scene is vibrant, innovative, and incredibly fast-paced, a tool like Recall could be a true game-changer
Countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia are seeing a surge in startups, tech talent, and foreign investment, often working on diverse, complex projects ranging from fintech to e-commerce, and cutting-edge AI solutions
The ability to streamline AI interactions, maintain context across evolving projects, and foster better human-AI collaboration directly addresses common productivity bottlenecks inherent in dynamic development environments
Solutions that enhance AI collaboration are particularly valuable in this region, allowing local developers to accelerate project timelines and maintain consistency
Whether you're building the next great fintech platform in Jakarta, an e-commerce giant in Ho Chi Minh City, or a cutting-edge AI solution in Kuala Lumpur, Recall promises to make your AI assistant a more effective, less frustrating partner
It’s about empowering local talent to innovate faster and more efficiently on the global stage, bridging the gap between AI's impressive capabilities and its real-world usability challenges
The Road Ahead for Recall José isn't stopping here
0 is already in the works, promising even more robustness with CI/CD pipeline integration via GitHub Actions, streamlined deployment through Docker support, a proper test suite using Vitest, and improved error messages and logging for a smoother user experience
It's clear that Recall is not just a clever hack but a foundation for a more intelligent, persistent AI future
Ready to give Claude a memory. Getting started is straightforward: a simple npm install -g @joseairosa/recall, a quick addition to your claude_desktop_config.
json, and you're set to transform your AI interactions.
This isn't just about tweaking a tool; it's about fundamentally rethinking the human-AI partnership, moving beyond fleeting conversations to truly persistent, intelligent collaboration
